Current in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems are tailored to the needs of aircraft that carry more than 150 passengers. Such aircraft have spacious interiors as well as generous weight and power constraints, and the IFE system used therein have seat boxes mounted under the seat, large closets and monuments in which to store head-end equipment, and in-arm passenger control units to control the audio, video and cabin attendant functions. Additionally, current IFE systems consume considerable power. These disadvantages make current IFE systems inappropriate for use in the aircraft of regional jet carriers. One way to minimize these disadvantages is to reduce the level of personalization in IFE systems, such as by forcing individual passengers to share monitors with many other passengers. This, of course, degrades the in-flight experiences for all passengers.
Some IFE systems provide personal video and audio entertainment, either as a permanently installed in-seat video system or as a battery-powered, hand-out video player (DVD or disk based). Permanently installed in-seat video systems force the airline to carry a display for each passenger (independent of use). This means that the aircraft carries the weight of every seat having a display. Also, the installation of in-seat displays requires a significant and expensive modification to the aircraft seats. It is more difficult to manage payment for services if the playing device is always mounted and ready for use. Since the device is always mounted in front of the passenger whether or not it is used, it is subject to more abuse, which increases overall maintenance costs. Hand-out video players have also been made available. Generally, these are hand-out DVD players, and DVDs that can be played in them are available from a library carried onboard the aircraft. The library of DVDs has to be maintained and the players batteries must be either recharged or changed on a periodic basis (often every flight). More recently, audio/video players with embedded hard disk drives provide a much broader range of entertainment, permit the offering of more recent material (often called early release material), but still require battery recharging or changing. In addition, the audio/video players with hard disks must be taken to a loading device to update video and audio content.
The disadvantage of a permanently mounted in-seat video system is expensive installation (seat modification effort and aircraft downtime for installation), higher aircraft weight (causing increased fuel use), and higher equipment costs (one for every seat whether needed or not). One way to minimize this disadvantage is to install in-seat video systems in only a portion of the aircraft. This is often done on a service class basis (first class only, for example). This approach does not help airlines that want to charge for the added feature. If airlines wanted to charge for the service and only some seats were fitted, the cabin crew would have to reseat passengers to provide the service. Moving passengers between seats to provide such a service is simply not practical. It increases the crew load and a strong potential for creating passenger dissatisfaction.
The disadvantage of battery-powered hand-out devices are battery maintenance (charging or changing), content loading (carrying to a content load station), and security of content (the content can be stolen). Onboard charging stations could minimize movement of the portable devices on and off the aircraft but does not address the content loading issues. Also, onboard charging stations increase the weight the aircraft carries on a permanent basis.